Tag Archives: the Ultimate Blog Challenge

DISILLUSIONMENT AND DISENCHANTMENT

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I hate making lunches, some days more than others. Today is the more. I was wishing for hamburger helpers, frozen pizzas, take-out…

That was my sole effort yesterday at the keyboard. I am suffering from disillusionment and disenchantment with so much that is called the ‘good life’. I’m singing Peggy Lee’s song Is That All There Is?

But I’m also with her about let’s keep on dancing. Let’s break out the booze and have a ball. I know this is a temporary human phase I’m going through. Let me feel and not deny it. What goes up, must also come down. There is only 7 more days to February and the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I will give it my best shot and finish it. Some of my thoughts on it might have changed but finishing has not. It did cross my mind though. I did question why I should finish and what is my purpose anyways. I had no business or service to promote. My tapping was my way of dissipating my stresses. I lost that purpose in the pursuit of more ‘content’. I lost purpose and pleasure in the process.

So let me go back to mumbling. Let me tap out the rhythm and words. The sun is smiling on me. Let me smile back. I have breadcrumbs soaking to make meatballs for lunch. I asked for hamburger helpers yesterday when I had it all along.

VALENTINE’S DAY AND THE ULTIMATE BLOG CHALLENGE

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Happy Valentine’s Day. It is February 14th, halfway through the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I had struggled through the early parts of it. I am struggling still, having no discipline to set time daily to write. I give in easily to my writer’s block, the lure of Netflix and other distractions, lack of organization and planning of topics. I did have a goal of having more content but gave in to mostly ‘diary writing’. I can blame it on being retired and no business to promote. It is still not too late. I still have 14 days to improve. There’s always the next challenge. Perhaps it would be a good idea to take in the training offered then.

My stats are not going off the chart but I do have a few followings. Since I do not have a business to promote, I am happy with my traffic. I could be happier with more. I am not competitive but I like being in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. It is a community and does provide readership. I am challenged to be a more productive writer. I appreciate getting writing tips and topic suggestions from Paul Taubman, the administrator. I also like having rules, even set ones like commenting on the 2 blog posts directly above mine. It forces me to read and comment on topics I might not like or easy to read and comment on. It helps me to exercise my reading and commenting muscles. I like being informed what are and are not good comments. It all helps in becoming a better writer.

It’s Sunday. I am giving myself a break and call this finished. I’ve pushed myself hard on the ski trail today, doing 3 laps around the park with a best time of 9::45.54 minutes on my second lap. I’m still on track with my 100dayproject with the 15th Log Cabin quilt block. The high in our greenhouse was 32.1℃ at 3:19 pm. Presently it is 4.4℃ at 6:15 pm. I better get my shit and seeds together soon. My valentine is preparing our supper. No long stem rose.

WINTER WONDERLAND/SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

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It’s another day, another Log Cabin square, another ski, and now another post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I thought I would show off our winter wonderland. I do love our winters. Most of these photos were taken at the Sutherland Dog Park. Sheba loved running on the frozen South Saskatchewan in the winter. We encountered a red fox here on Christmas eve in 2009. I had thought it was a dog as it streaked past us towards the river. No person followed after and it never came back. That was when I realized it must have been a fox.

I am missing my puppy girl now and again and for always. That is how it is with love. But I know she is happy somewhere over the rainbow. I know she will visit me again.

THE HEART OF ME

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It’s February 8, 2021. Almost 5:30. Yet the sun is still present in the livingroom. It will vanish in a minute or two but I love this almost perfect beautiful golden moment. Everything, including myself, is in alignment from head to toe. I am so happy we went out for our ski, despite the frigid temperature. The sun was brilliant. It is the kind of weather that agrees with me the most. I feel energized, without my aches and pains. The snow was the best, too. It didn’t stick to the bottom of my skis and I felt the glide. The mask was perfect keeping my lungs from the cold air. I didn’t have to taste the wool of a scarf.

Chinese New Year will arrive on February 12. It is the year of the ox. I don’t know what it means. I take it that we all must be strong, like the ox, and do our best to keep safe and do the utmost not to spread the Coronavirus. We must, like good citizens of the earth, do our part to help regreen the planet. This is my hope for this year of the ox. February is also heart month. The heart needs exercise as much as the rest of our body.

I like to stretch my heart muscles by being kinder, more loving and understanding of others. I know that sometimes I think I am all of those things. I know I over estimate and give myself too much credit. It is hard to take myself out of me and look at things and others dispassionately, without prejudice and preconceived ideas. It is a good thing to remember. I would like to spend time to observe and explore how I can change and be more heartful through this Ultimate Blog Challenge.

MY BOWL RUNNETH OVER

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It’s a chilly day 6 of February and the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I woke up to a -33 Celsius outside and a -24.7 Celsius in our solar passive greenhouse. The cold killed all our outdoor solar motion sensor lights. I hope they come back when it’s warmer. Yesterday, the cold drained the battery on my iPhone. It lasted till I finished my ski. I was able to time my 2 laps around the park. The sun is bright and sunning. It’s warmed a degree outside and it is considerably warmer in the greenhouse, a balmy -6.3 degrees Celsius. I will probably have to wait till March to plant in there.

I’ve nixed the idea of skiing today. I do want to go but it would be a stupid idea with a windchill of -41 degrees Celsius. I have this addictive nature but I can stop. I’m sipping my tea and tapping a few words. I have dough bubbling and rising in the kitchen. It is spilling over. I have to run and tend to it.

So much for organization. I’m back but it is bedtime. Too late to go into the details of the bread making. Perhaps that’s a post for another day. All my bread is tucked in their bags and in the fridge/freezer. I was perhaps over zealous with my baking. I did my usual 6 loaves of whole wheat and 2 loaves of sourdough. It’s a good way of warming the house on a bitterly cold day. I also want to make good use of the oven, baking the sourdough right after the whole wheat comes out. Right after that, I slide in a tray of egg shells to dry them and crushing them after for the garden.

The bread making was no problem. That part was enjoyable. It was the cleaning up and putting away that’s really draining. I hung in there till it was all done. I admit I was feeling a bit testy at the end. But all is well. A glass of wine with supper, a hot shower,a movie and popcorn smoothed my ruffled feathers. I even managed to do my Log Cabin square for the100dayproject. Now I’m finished for the day.

KNOW WHEN TO STOP

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It’s Day 2 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. There certainly is an increased traffic on the site. It leaves me a bit breathless, feeling unsure if I can keep up. It doesn’t help that I’ve just come back from our daily cross country ski. We decided to change the scenery and went to a different park with a ski trail. It was alot longer than I had bargained for. I had trouble getting up a little hill and ended up on my backside. I’ve enough experience now that I know how to get up. I just need some time just to lay there and gather my thoughts, look up at the sky and rest.

Some kind hearted man and woman happened to witness my downfall. The man gave me verbal instructions. The woman, I’m not sure she was his wife, kept coming at me to give me a hand even though I was adamant I didn’t need help. I wasn’t even thinking of Covid. I could get up by myself. He finally had to hold her back. It made me wonder if she has some sort of dementia. She never spoke. I’m not sure if I felt more assured by his telling me that they were vaccinated. Why did he tell me that? I think it made me feel more anxious. I try to reassure myself that though neither of us were masked, we were outside. I was breathing a bit heavy but they weren’t. I know I am ok.

That reminds me that I probably should have a mask for these unexpected events. If I had one on my pocket, I could have put it on. I need to keep one in the car, too. I righted myself, took off one ski and climbed up that damned slippery slope and back on the trail. I could see the guy’s yellow jacket way over yonder where our car was parked. I wondered how long to get over there. Soon I could see that I was getting further and further away, in the opposite direction of where our car was. I cursed under my breath and turned my skis around. It was a good thing he came for me in the car. He found me as I was crossing the road. Otherwise, I probably would still be out on the trail – in the dark.

I am tired and a bit disgruntled. But I’m still in this challenge and the100dayproject. My third log cabin square look pretty good. My squares look like stained glass windows. 100 log cabin squares will make a beautiful queen sized quilt. My order of supplies came from Amazon came this afternoon. I must admit that I was a little disappointed. I was expecting 30 quilting fabric clips along with seam rippers and whatnot. I only got 9. That kind of put a knot in my panities. I sent off a note to Amazon in the hopes of getting the other 21 clips.

I’ve had a full day. Time to pack it in. I need a little rest. My hands are sore from all the ripping apart of old clothes to make into new and from gripping my ski poles. Sometimes when I get going, I don’t know when to stop. I have to do it now.

THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE

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It is February 1, 2021. A new month and another Ultimate Blog Challenge. I have been a participant for a number of years now. Why am I doing it? Mostly because I love writing. It’s a practice that gives me structure to the day. I can work out problems and ease some of my angst on the page. I meet other bloggers and exchange views and ideas. It leads to community, sharing and helping each other. Writing and posting photos gives me a lot of pleasure. That alone is a good reason to join in. A challenge is a commitment. I’m more prone to deliver and succeed. So here’s to a month of writing a post every day. I wish all the participants success. I’m looking forward to reading their posts.

What am I going to write about? In the past, I had no plan at all. I sit down with my cup of tea and start a conversation. Sometimes I use the prompt our moderator sends out. I might very well do the same again. Off the cuff, a chat over tea. But I do have a bit of a plan. I’m in another challenge – the100dayproject. I am making a quilt square a day for that. I might talk about sewing and quilting things. February is heart month. There’s many heart issues I could talk about. February is also the time to start seeds. And then there’s cross country skiing I took up at the end of November. I’ve had a few mishaps and exciting moments to share.

It’s good that I started tapping away at the keyboard. Ideas and topics pop up. There’s so many things I could talk about and blog on. I can be quite a chatter box once I get going. Later in as I learn, I could talk about the whys, hows and rewards of keeping commitments. It’s going to be an exciting month. I am so glad that I’ve entered the challenge. I was getting slack and going silent. It could have gotten to be a bad habit. Now I don’t have to worry.

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DAY 31 – THE FINISH LINE

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The Finish Line

At long last the end of the road. This is it for the Ultimate Blog Challenge in October. I’ve done a good job. I did what I said I was going to do – my best. I had a beginning, middle and an end. I had goals. They gave me directions each day. They led me to the finish line.

There were days when I faltered, when I didn’t feel like it, when I was tired, when I was…blah, blah, blah. Sometimes I am just full of excuses, but I pushed through them this month. I have many unfinished projects. I have this bad habit of incompleteness, unable to follow through even on simple things. That’s why I am such a clutter bug. I don’t put things away. I don’t throw things away. I don’t…You get the drift. This writing challenge has helped me to see this part of myself. I can now move on to do some corrections.

A fellow challenger had a post on the benefits of making lists. It resonated with me. I kept the post up on my tab for many a days. I would read it again and again. It appealed to me. I saw the value of what was said. Though I never did make lists literally, I made them in my head. I would decide a few things that I would do for that particular day. I was not religious about it. I didn’t do it every day but I did it enough that it came back again and again.

That’s the thing. If we do healthy actions regularly, they would become habits. When they do, we wouldn’t have to struggle so much in doing the right thing. Life would be easier. We would be healthier and happier. That’s the end products I’m aiming for. These days of writing regularly made me more aware of my thoughts and feelings. I pay more attention to what I say and do. I ask myself more questions. Do I want to say/do this? Do I need to say/do that? What difference would it make? I think questioning has made me wiser and choose better ways of being. It made me see that I had been doing the same thing over and over. Yet I was expecting a different outcome. Dummkopf!

I am in the honeymoon phase of enlightenment. It’s like being in the throes of first love. I hope I won’t crash. I know it is possible. I have had that feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even if I do, I know the landing will be softer this time. For now, I will enjoy my euphoria. I saw the big fat moon last night. I saw it again this morning. I even saw the stars. We are stardust. We are golden. Song of Joni Mitchell.

DAY 29 UBC -ALMOST THERE

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Almost There

It is raining. I’m glad I got my walk in before it started. I’m here but I don’t know how to get started. You would think the rain would be a good conversation starter. It isn’t. Maybe if I get up and pace a bit. Trying too hard can be counter productive so I might as well just tap my usual drivel. Two more days left to the Ultimate Blog Challenge after today. I’m almost there.

I’m not terribly rested and chirpy having had a day to do as I please. I feel cranky as can be. Maybe I shouldn’t think about days off. I should just keep trucking along life’s highway. I was happy on my walk through the park near the school. It was good to see so many kids out playing and laughing, wearing their masks. I never saw so many children playing outside before Covid.

There are some good side effects from this pandemic time. It’s not all gloom and doom. Maybe we could work our way back to engage and live life instead of watching reality shows on TV. Maybe we can use this time in ‘lock down’ to find solutions to reverse climate change and have a greener planet. There are so many maybes but it’s good to throw them out there. It’s better than crying over what we have lost. Those are the things that we probably didn’t value before. If we did, we would have taken better care, wouldn’t we?

I am cranky and irky but I am not unhappy, depressed or despairing. I like challenges. These times are challenging but when is it not? We should just get over ourvelves and get to work. Our greenhouse is almost finished. I am looking forward to seeding and growing greens. The temperature in it was 30 degrees Celsius the other day with the sun shining. I’m excited. I think I can grow greens even in winter. I found a gardener on YouTube who could in -31 C without heat. I’m pumped.

DAY 28 UBC – SOME DAYS ARE HEAVIER THAN OTHERS

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Some Days Are Heavier Than Others

Another day in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m later than usual. I almost forgot but I’m here now. Been a busy week, trying to keep up with everything. I had to forgo my walk yesterday and today. That’s the thing. I have to be flexible and just do my best. Sometimes that best is less. But I do exercise everyday. Yesterday it was swimming. Today it was my aerobics class with weights. Tomorrow I will walk.

All my toilet paper and paper towel arrived from Costco yesterday. There was a maple syrup thrown in to make up the cost eligible for free delivery. It was a big load, worth the extra cost for delivery right to the door. Now I’m set for winter. The days will be less weighty not having to run around shopping and lugging bulky items home. It’s good to be focused and have a plan. Even the little outing I had yesterday with my parents to get their flu shots and to pick up a few things tired me out. Sometimes you don’t realize how much extra energy this Covid thing eats up.

I’m glad that tomorrow is a day off. Aside from a walk, I am not committed to doing anything. I have soup made for lunch already. I’ve done enough baking this week. We’ve polished off all the pumpking chocolate chip muffins I made. I made 2 batches of sourdough buns the other day. My best and easiest so far. You can see the bubbles in my dough. And the Jerusalem artichokes are taken care of. They’re pickled. They do not keep long before going soft. You can only eat so many at one time. It’s a good reason they dubbed them fartychokes! Fermenting is suppose to take the fart out. Let’s see it is true. Time will tell.

It is getting late. I best say good night. I hope this is an easy read. I will be back tomorrow for day 29.